JK 1923 
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The following able article by a Correspondent of the 
Cincinnati Gazette^ July, 1865, on a subject now greatly 
agitating the public mind, is worthy of the careful peru¬ 
sal of every American, whether advocate or opponent 
of Negro Suffrage. 


THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE. 

H 

Permit me to offer a few thoughts on a subject now engaging 
much of public attention, and in reference to which correct con¬ 
clusions are of vital importance. To reach such conclusions it 
is indispensable, explicitly or implicitly, to keep in view a dis¬ 
tinction which, however abstract it may appear to be, is as real 
as any other, and cannot be ignored without confusion of thought 
and mischief in practice. 1 mean that between the Nation and 
the State^ or between an assemblage of human beings, usually of 
the same race, held together by gregarious tendencies or forces, 
common to man and all other living creatures, and the same 
aggregate, held together by a creative or organized force pos¬ 
sessed by man alone, and by means of which such aggregate 
is formed into a regularly organized body, having a definite char¬ 
acter as a whole. For the sake of distinction, the former may be 
called ^natural and the latter an artificial of society ; though 
as resulting from those superior powers distinguishing man from / 

the brute, but which are equally with all others a gift of the Creator, / 

the latter state is really as natural as the former. Man, however, / 

actually creates the state, while he does not the nation, and the 
distinction of natural and artificial may therefore stand as appro- / 
priate. Nevertheless, both co-exist and always have co-existed, j 
there never having been a time in the history of mankind when 


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both forces were not in operation among the same people, though 
one or the other may have greatly predofiinated. Sometimes 
the political or artificial force almost wholly overpowers ihe social 
or natural, as in the Grecian republics; at other times the latter 
so predominates that, as the expression goes, “Society is resolved 
into its natural elements.” In the nation, the individual is 
known simply as the man or woman, or yeoman ; in the State, as 
the citizen. 

Now, the man, by virtue of being a living creature, with the 
earth as his temporary abode, is “ endowed by his Creator with 
certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness.” Without these, the great end of his ex¬ 
istence would be unattainable. All living creatures, even the 
lowest, possess the same natural lights. But man, as a human 
being, and in his capacity of citizen, has higher rights which he 
does not share with lower creatures. One of these, unquestion¬ 
ably, is a voice or influence in the affairs of Slate, since the indi¬ 
vidual is an element, usually, of the political organism—a part, 
having the same nature as the whole—and the enjoyment of his 
natural rights greatly depending upon the proper exercise of his 
political or civil rights. There never was a government, how¬ 
ever despotic, in which the influence of every citizen was not 
productive of some effect, however slight, hidden, or seemingly 
non-existent. 

This voice, influence or suffrage, is a governmental function, 
and the extent and manner of its exercise necessarily depends 
upon the form of governmcmt. or distinctive character of the 
political organism. In despotisms there is no prescribed mode 
for its manifestation. In limited monarchies, suffrage is pro¬ 
vided for, though varying greatly in the extent of its direct and 
sanctioned exercise, lii our Government, professing to be 
founded upon the “consent of the governed”—to be, indeed, a 
government o/'the people, through a representative, and not a 
purely democratic government—suffrage, or the elective franchiae, 
is all but universal. There has already been assigned sufficient 
reasons lor its non exercise by women and children, though their 
influence is indirectly felt through the medium of husbands and 
fathers. The absorbing question, in the' present altered condl- 


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U- 

o 

tion of our political affairs, is, shall the emaacipated black race 
be permitted to exerc*ise the elective franchise ? We have restored 
to them, as we suppose, their “heaven descended” natural rights; 
shall we give to them, here and among ourselves, the political 
right of suffrage, or make them a part of the political, as they 
confessedly are a part of the national body? Never before, per¬ 
haps, has a question of more vital importance been presented to 
the American people for decision. Its magnitude and hir-reach- 
ing relations are scarcely, at least not generally, appreciated. 
Let us briefly examine some of its most salient points only, since 
that is all that can here be attempted. 

It has just been said that the nation is made up of human 
beings usually of the same race, 'fhis fact greatly conduces to 
the welfare of the people in numberless ways; and the State 
being for the most part an organization of the nation, sameness 
of race promotes unity of both. This sameness, however, does 
not always exist, though where the differences are comparatively 
slight, and the races are what we term cognate^ their interming¬ 
ling is productive of happy effects; as in England, for instance, 
when the Saxons, Danes, Angles and Normans, all from the great 
'feutonic stock, have united to form one of the finest races in the 
world. Yet, among Englishmen, traces of distinct races are still 
|)erceptible, showing the all pervading influence of blood. Tlie 
Celtic and Teutonic races, on the contrary, have never kindly 
mingled, though for ages existing side by side, and sometimes 
under the same government, as, for example, the English and 
Irish. So omnipotent is blood, or, if we please, nationality, that 
it can neither be obliterated, nor can two different kinds harmoni¬ 
ously unite under the same political organization; the artificial 
cannot destroy the natural. Hence, all history shovvs us that 
where two or more races inhabit the same territory, one will 
generally obtain tfje political ascendency; the others, though 
enjoying, it may be, their natural rights, remaining politically in 
subjection. Witness the numerous layers, it we may so speak, 
of populations in India, the Aryan race holding the political 
power to the exclusion of all other races. So in China, the Tar¬ 
tar rule prevailing over the more numerous aboriginal races, and 
maintaining its power in spite of a long-continued rebellion. 





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Long after the conquest of Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards, 
they governed those countries, though but a handful in compari¬ 
son with the native populations- 

These, and the like, are great facts in political history, and 
should not be thrown aside as of no weight in settling the ques¬ 
tion of suffrage now upon us. It wotild seem to be a law of 
nature that the State should be composed of homogeneous ele¬ 
ments, and that what is alien and heterogeneous, though exist¬ 
ing in the nation, should be excluded from the political organism. 
Could one, by a simple enactment on the statute book, or a con¬ 
stitutional provision, do away with the influence of blood, the 
State might be reorganized on the basis of universal suffrage, to 
the immediate advantage of the country. But the negro race is 
alien to the Teutonic or Celtic ; more so than any which could be 
named as ever likely to be among us; more so than the aborigi¬ 
nal races, with which a bitter experience has taught us we can 
never assimilate under the same government. It is not simply 
on account of color or other sensible quality, that the white and 
black races can never become assimilated, but because there are 
outward indications of innumerable inward incompatibilities, of 
irreconcilable differences, of insurmountable antipathies. Neither 
is it for wmnt of intelligence or of moral w’orth that the negro 
should be excluded from political power, but because, admitting 
the possession of these to as great an extent as among an equal 
number of w'hites, there is an inherent heterogenity of blood, of 
mind and body, which the possession of these would only tend 
to aggravate and develope. None pretend to believe for a mo¬ 
ment that the negro can exist on the same social level with the 
whites in the same community; that he can be admitted to our 
firesides and tables as an equal; or that he can intermarry with 
our children and relations ; or, in short, that there can ever be an 
amalgamation of the tw^o races. If there are any who believe 
this to be possible, to them there can be nothing in the way of 
political equality. 

I can only say to such, that should the possibility ever be tho¬ 
roughly tested, their creed would probably undergo a rapid 
change Until we are ready to accept social equality, we should 
deliberate long before we grant political equality. It may be said 


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that the former will not necessarily follow as a consequence of 
the latter. Very true : because there are ineradicable tendencies in 
the very depths of our nature which would render social equality 
impossible, in spite of legal enactments, conclusions of reason or 
persuasives of benevolence. But that which would follow as the 
inevitable consequence of any attempt to bring about social 
equality (and suffrage would be such an attempt) would be inter¬ 
minable dissensions, arising from countless modes of interference, 
assuming every variety of shape, and being productive of every 
manner of evil. In short, there would be a war of races, never 
ending until one or the other should be exterminated. 

But the negro race is among us. We need not stop to inquire 
how they came, to what extent they have multiplied, or by whose 
fault they have been so long denied their natural rights as human 
beings. These rights we may now proudly say are, or are about 
to be, restored to them. Shall we on this account go further, 
and bestow on them political rights? There is no logical con¬ 
nection between the two, and there never w^as a graver error 
than to maintain the contrary, as many W'ell intentioned and 
intelligent persons seem disposed to do. The emancipation of 
the blacks in the United States is the great event of the age; it 
is a triumph of humanity over brutishness, of civilization over 
barbarism ; and as a Christian community we may well glory in 
the accomplishment of so good a work. But it behooves us to 
be careful that in the regeneration of the State we do not commit 
the error of our fathers in its generation. They fain hoped that 
slavery, as an admitted element (though not by name), would 
die out of the political system, leaving few traces of a hurtful 
kind We know loo well what consequences have resulted from 
this fatal compromise between two antagonistic principles. Let 
us not from a similar want of prescience, from any fancied neces¬ 
sity of the moment, from a mistaken philanthropy, or from any 
other cause, fall into even a graver error. To all natural rights 
the negro is justly entitled. In the full enjoyment of these the 
Federal Government owes it to itself, to the world, and to the 
common Father of all, to protect him. No law to protect and 
maintain these rights should be permitted to exist in any State, 
making any discrimination on account of color or race. We even 







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justly owe to the negro a greater measure of protection at first 
than to the whites, since by our own connivance and wrong we 
have rendered him, through ignorance and habit, less capable of 
protecting and caring for himself. And we, furthermore, owe him 
this fuller protection since we cannot grant him the rights and 
power of citizenship. It is unfortunate that the lasting welfare 
of both races demands this withholding of political rights; that 
long since this the negro has not been placed in a country of his 
own; but it is useless to lament the unwelcome fact; we must 
accept and meet it manfully. 

This political disfranchisement, however, is not a new thing in 
our government, and much less is it so in other governments. 
All foreigners seeking a home among us are subject to it for five 
years after their arrival, and for three after declaring their inten¬ 
tion to become citizens, and in the opinion of many intelligent 
men the period should be much longer. Yet from the moment 
they land upon our shores, even if they never intend to, and 
never do become citizens, they are protected in the enjoyment of 
all their natural rights. In England, boastiiig of her free Consti¬ 
tution, the vast majority of her people have no political franchise, 
have no direct voice whatever in shaping political measures, and 
yet they glory in the protection meted out to the meanest subject of 
the realm. In other European countries the disfranchisement is 
still more complete, and yet the people are protected in their 
rights in a very large degree. It is true, there is an irrepressible 
desire in the human breast for the possession of political as well 
as natural rights, and to gratify that desire thousands yearly flfock 
to our shores. Nevertheless, and in spite of disfranchisement, 
the people of a country never cease to have an influence in the 
government. The blacks exercised this influence in slavery, not 
because their wishes were consulted, but because their powers 
and capacities—their whole nature—being in the midst of us, 
affected, chiefly through their masters, the legislation and other 
political action of the government, and pervaded (certainly not for 
good) the whole social as well as political fabric at the South. 
As strong an influence, but a far healthier kind, though at best not 
desirable, would be operative on the white race were the blacks, 
like the unnaturalized foreigner, endowed with all natural rights, 


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but denied the elective franchise. But the influence would 
always be like that of an element foreign to the body politic, and 
of hurtful kind; not as hurtful as in slavery, but still hurtful. 
The German, the Irishman, and the Frenchman may be natural 
ized in fact as well as in law, for they are comparatively near of 
kin to us. 

In a few generations, a close amalgamation may take place, 
though under the most favorable circumstances, many generations 
are required to perfect this amalgamation, and leave no traces of 
original blood. But the negro race would never become natu¬ 
ralized in the same way. Were amalgamation possible and 
general, it would be at an expense of a debasement of the higher 
traits of which we now boast. There would be no pride in the 
anticipation of such a result and nothing but evil in its fruition. 

It is impertinent to say, as some of our best men have said, 
that, because the negro has fought by the side of the whites, he 
is therefore entitled, like them, to a voice in shaping the regener¬ 
ated political organism. As before said, there is no logical con¬ 
nection between the two. This war was not waged in the inter¬ 
est of a dynasty, or of any particular form of government, but to 
preserve the life of the nation. The whites fought and bled for 
that end and so did the blacks. Both had the same grand object 
in view, but with this single difference, that the white man fought 
to maintain the rights he had long enjoyed, while the black man 
fought to acquire the same rights, but which he had never 
enjoyed. 

Now that the great national end is attained, the best good of 
both races demands, that their future political course should be 
different. 

Neither is it pertinent to say that because the negro has proved 
himself capable of directing the bullet he is therefore as capable 
of properly directing the ballot. This is not a question of capa¬ 
bility, but of consanguinity, of harmonious action in a political 
organisEn. Admitting capability in the highest degree on the 
part of the negro, it only furnishes the stronger reason why he 
should be excluded from political equality—equality of political 
power. For the interests of the two races can never be one any 
more than their color, and as countless dissension would arise, 









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the equal political power of each would be wielded for antagonis¬ 
tic interests, and thus, as before said, an ititerminable war of 
races would ensue, and endure as long as the power by which it 
was waged. 

And as it is not relevant to argue from the capabilily of the 
negro that he is entitled to the right of suffrage in our Govern¬ 
ment, so it is not relevant to adduce the few instances in which 
that right has been accorded to him, to prove that it will not be 
productive of the evils mentioned. The few free blacks possess¬ 
ing the right of suffrage have been as nothing compared with the 
whites residing in the same section of country. Feeling them¬ 
selves elevated by the possession of this power, they have been 
disposed to retain the good opinion of the influential whites by so 
exercising it as not to stand in opposition to them, since such 
opposition w’ould be injurious to their private interests; and their 
number has never been such as to justify open opposition, since 
defeat would be certain. And, more than this, the freest and 
most privileged blacks have never been able to divest themselves 
of the consciousness that their race is a degraded one in this conn - 
tr)^, a vast portion of it being in bondage; and that they them¬ 
selves, though accidentally favored above their kindred, cannot 
divest themselves of the general detrradation attaching to the 
whole. 

But change this state of things ; let the blacks know that they 
are the equals of the whites in political power; that equally with 
the whites, they are the governors as well as the governed ; and 
give time for this to he felt as well as known—to become a part 
of ever-present consciousness, as with ourselves—then would the 
inherent antagonism of races become developed with all its atten¬ 
dant and inseparable evils. Even admitting that the great pre¬ 
ponderance of the whites in the Northern Stales would be such 
as to render the evils endurable, and, to a great extent, controlla¬ 
ble, it could not be so in the Southern States, the native and more 
congenial home of the blacks. They might be here in the major¬ 
ity, and directly or indirectly control the State Governments. 
Can it be expected that the whites in the South will submit to 
this, or that they can endure it? Never. Nor would they in the 
North were the circumstances reversed. It is in vain to appeal 



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to reason, to justice, to humanity, or to any of the better senti 
ments of our nature. The deep and ineradicable antagonism of 
race— kind —would overpower, as it was designed to do, all 
higher but weaker considerations. Philosophers may reason as 
they will of the unity of race, of oneness of origin, of sameness of 
destination, and of the effect of similarity of condition in bringing 
about similarity of constitution. It matters not what might once 
have been in the pre-historic past, or what might still be in the 
far distant future, the great difference of kind is a present fact 
which no wise statesman should neglect. We may speak of this 
heterogenity and the sentiment arising from it as a prejudice 
which we should strive to overcome. It doubtless is such in the 
true etymological sense, something arising in the mind indepen¬ 
dent of reason, because lying deeper than reason, and too strong 
for argument to overcome. If it is so powerful in India, under 
the name of caste^ among a comparatively homogeneous people, 
and even among ourselves under the same designation of ramc^ 
how can we ever expect to surmount the more formidable differ¬ 
ences and antagonism between the Caucassian and Negro races? 
We cannot do it, and should never attempt it, by conferring on 
the latter political power, and thereby open the rloor to untold 
evils, which would multiply indefinitely until one or the other 
race was exterminated from the land 

Seeing, then, that although the elective franchise, in our happy 
form of government, may be regarded as a right, in one sense, as 
truly inalienable as the natural rights of life, liberty, property and 
the pursuit of happiness, (because carrying with it the power of 
maintaining these,) yet, that is one which, for the best good of 
both races, we ought not to confer upon the negro in our midst, 
what becomes our high and imperative duty to the emancipated 
but disfranchised blacks? What, in this great emergency, shall 
we do to complete, in the best manner, the glorious work we 
have begun ? What does God and humanity require of us ? How 
can we best discharge the responsibility resting upon us, and so 
act as to elevate both races, and afford a double asylum to the 
oppressed of other lands ? Clearly, we must speak to them 
something after this manner: “ You are here among us ; this is 

the native land of most of you as it is of most of us ; you have 


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been unjustly oppressed for generations ; vou have risen up 
against the same cruel and aristocratic power which we have 
encountered, and which would have crushed out the life of the 
nation; you have had the same end in view that we have had, 
namely, to preserve that life ; you have fought and bled by our 
side, and have laid down your lives as we have done in the good 
cause ; the dust cf your loved ones mingles with that of those we 
loved on many a bloody battle-field ; you have triumphed with 
us, and with us you must enjoy the fruits of that triumph. 
Your natural rights must be secured to )ou by our action as 
citizens in the State. We will see to it that tlie laws ibr the pre¬ 
servation of these are just and equal, and that in this respect you 
shall be upon a perfect equality with ourselves. But neither your 
good nor ours will permit us to confer upon you political rights. 
In withholding them, we deprive you of nothing which you ever 
possessed. You were brought here and have been held by force, 
and wrongfully. You have never formed a part of the body politic, 
have never had a voice directly in our public alTairs, for the pre¬ 
servation of your natural rights, therefore you cannot claim it 
from us. Abstractly, it may be yours, and there should be some 
place on God’s iboistool that you might call your country, and 
where you might exercise the r ght with incalculable advantage 
to yourselves, and your whole race; where you might found free 
institutions similar to ours, and which might become a model for 
the black race in every part of the world.” Something like this 
we should say to the blacks by word or action, and from this time 
henceforth it should be the settled and unwavering policy of our 
government to establish the blacks in a land of their own, and 
one adapted to their constitutions and habits. It can be done, 
difficult as it may now appear, if determinedly begun and prose¬ 
cuted, for we must bear in mind that the facilities would increase 
in a geometrical ratio after the first complete settlement. Other 
nations, loo, might grant us their aid, and making it the cause 
of humanity at large, as Ihe suppression of the slave trade now 
is. We should not drive them away from us, but so order things 
that the young and middle-aged would, for the most part, desire 
to leave us, leaving after one generation but an insignificant rem¬ 
nant among us; . . , 



11 


But will this ever be clone? Will suffrage, kindly but firmly, 
be denied, and colonization ever become a settled policy of the 
Government? Six months ago we were engaged in a deathly 
struggle for national existence, the Slate being disorganized. 
We succeeded, and now comes another struggle, admitted by all 
to be equally, if not more difficult than the first, fully exemplify¬ 
ing the distinction alluded to in the commencen ent of this arti¬ 
cle. We are now struggling to reorganize the State under cir¬ 
cumstances and outward conditions never before existing. The 
people, who a short time since were acting in their capacity as 
yeomen^ are now acting in that of citizens. But the indications 
are that the distinction will be ignored. Great and good men 
are taking strong ground for negro suffrage, especially at the 
North, and God in his providence may decree another war to 
yrove, to us that emancipation is not the equivalent or logical ante¬ 
cedent of enfranchisement. The great Bnion party, whose glory 
is to have saved the nation, and to have accomplished the former, 
may add to that glory and long remain the ruling power in this 
land, if it does not unwisely attempt the latter; if it does, its 
work will be undone or the black race exterminatecl. The cloud 
is now no bigger than a man’s hand, and few seem willing or 
think it needful to scrutinize its portentous aspect. Gratitude 
for service rendered in the field ; a mistaken application of the 
general fact of capacity ; the influence of false or exaggerated 
moral sentiments ; the immediate effect of the negro vote in giving 
a loyal element to State Governments; the influence of politicians 
looking to nothing but their present and private interests; the 
zeal of recent conversion always running to extremes; a blind¬ 
ness to the distinction between men and citizens, and various 
other influences, will so combine, it is to be feared, as to lead us 
into errors far more ffital than that of incorporating slavery into 
the body politic, ns our fathers thought themselves compelled to 
do. 

We should look at this matter with the eye of true statesmen, 
taking a view of the past and the future. Amendments are 
required in the Constitution in order to meet the new conditions 
by which we are surrounded. If the negro does not vote he 
must not be represented. The ratio of representation must be 









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applied to the white population, and in this 
be feared from the late rebel element in Congress. 

But these remarks have already been extended far beyond the 
original design, although touching only on the general features of 
the subject. The writer can have no hope of checking the cur¬ 
rent setting, as he Believes, in a wrong direction ; he can look 
for nothing more than the inward satisfaction, in this hour of 
peril, of having uttered a note of warning. 


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